Money Can’t Buy Love

I’m back from New York City where I was at first the Romance Writers of America conference then the International Thriller Writers “Thrillerfest.” There are many great wrap-ups of the conferences around cyberspace, and it’s kind of old news, so I won’t rehash it here. Besides, I have little to add.

But one thing that happened–and is still happening–I want to talk about, because I think it affects all authors … and readers. Self-promotion.

There was an undercurrent of angst among authors–and not just debut authors or midlist authors–that they needed to do *more* self-promotion. Many conversations, particularly at RWA, centered around what authors were–or weren’t–doing to promote their books. Bookmarks, excerpts, print ads, on-line ads, book tours, book trailers, romance trading cards, Twitter, Facebook, social media in general, newsletters, blog tours, Skype book clubs, postcards, email lists, free digital stories, cheap digital stories, more web content, blogging, tweeting–and that’s just what I remembered off the top of my head.

In some ways, I understand how an author feels pressure from within to do as much as physically and mentally possible to promote the book they labored over for four, six, twelve months — or longer. That we want to make sure we’ve done EVERYTHING to give it the best shot of success. That if the book doesn’t do well, we’re more apt to look at OUR failings than anyone else’s failings. And especially in 2011, with the uncertainties of the digital market v. print market, the demise of Borders, the rocky road of traditional publishing, and the cult-like pressure by some that self-publishing is the best/only route, our success or failure seems to be put more and more solely on our backs.

And while I understand while authors might discuss self-promotion, one thing I heard here and there a couple years ago I’m hearing from EVERYONE today: That publishers are pressuring their authors to blog and become active in social media. More than one person (more than a dozen people) told me that their publisher/editor insisted they go on Facebook or Twitter and that their resistance could damage their sales. The underlying threat (implied or stated) was that the publisher would be looking at the authors with a successful social media campaign and would be more likely to support said authors when it came to their own publishing efforts.

I want to call a Time Out.

Twitter does not sell books.

Facebook does not sell books.

And unless you have a blog that’s read by tens of thousands of unique visitors a day, blogging does not sell books.

There is only one thing that truly sells books–that makes a book hit lists, go into second and third and fourth printings, that gets a book talked about–and that is Word Of Mouth.

EVERYONE in publishing who I spoke with about this said the exact same thing: The only thing that sells books is word of mouth–and there is no one way to make that work. There is not only no one way, but there’s no guaranteed way. What works for one author doesn’t work for another. You could have two great romantic thrillers with strong reviews, and one hits lists and one tanks. One gets talked about, one doesn’t.

But the feelings I’ve been hearing from scared authors is that if your book tanks, it’s your fault.

Um, no.

Sure, you may have a hand in your book not doing well, but traditional publishing is a partnership. There’s a lot that goes into making a great package. Let’s assume we’re starting with a strong book in a marketable genre. What goes into making that book exceed expectations?

* Cover design
* Cover quote/endorsements
* Early reviews
* Competition
* Co-op (what the publisher spends for front-of-store shelf space or cyber space)
* Sales enthusiasm (the publisher’s sales force getting excited about the book and helping to generate more bookseller orders)
* Distribution (the book is available through all sales channels, both print and digital)
* Bookseller enthusiasm (because of the above, they read and/or hand-sell)
* Reader word of mouth

ALL OF THE ABOVE matters more than anything the author herself can do. Why? Because if you don’t have at least most of the above items in the bag, what YOU do isn’t going to impact sales. If you have all of the above, plus a strong publisher marketing plan, then anything you do will help impact sales. Why? Because people will have heard of your book. But EVEN if you have all of the above and even if YOU compliment the publishing program, your book still may not succeed. And sometimes no one knows why. And sometimes they do. (Yes, it’s a wonky system.)

Our Toni has a great analysis about why Twitter isn’t the an effective way to sell books. I don’t want to screw it up, so I’m hoping she’ll summarize it here in the comments. In essence, you need tens of thousands of followers to have any measurable impact on your sales. Most of us don’t. Most of us have a couple thousand. I’m nearing 3,000. The other problem is that Twitter is fluid–you post, it goes. For those who are following thousands of people, they aren’t seeing your tweets in their stream. There’s just too much information.

Where Twitter and Facebook and all the other social media comes in handy is when you are consistent, people expect to see you regularly, and so when you post that you have a new book out, your loyal fans will (hopefully) go out and buy it opening week and that will generate velocity and hopefully have the impact on your list placement.

Provided you are already expected to hit lists.

Provided that your books are well-distributed.

Provided that there’s some buzz either because you’re already an established author with a fan base, or because of strong publisher support and great packaging.

You can’t buy word of mouth. You can’t pay people to love your books. (Well, I suppose you COULD but it wouldn’t last more than one or two books … ) To get people recommending an author, the author needs to write more great books that get into the hands of readers who want to read them. The front list (new books) sell the back list (old books) and it’s in the back list that the publishers make the bulk of their profit.

I’m not suggesting that authors not be on social media, or insisting that they need to be. I don’t think every author should blog. I think authors should do what they are comfortable doing that doesn’t impact their writing time. Writing books should always come first. Everything else is a distant second.

The single most effective tool an author has is their book–so getting that book into as many reader’s hands as possible is the most effective way to generate word of mouth. But it has to be the right readers for that author, and that’s something that only the package itself–cover, title, cover copy, etc–can show. This is one reason why I have given away over 2,000 books at my expense over the last six years I’ve been published, plus printed 1500 copies of my digital-only novella to hand out as a sampler of my voice. I give to anyone–conferences, friends, repairmen, whoever. If I think they’ll like the book, I want them to be an advocate for it. (Of course, my single most effective advocate is my mom, and she can’t be duplicated or replaced!)

Authors need to partner with their publishers. Find out what THEY are doing then compliment it with promotion you’re comfortable doing–and that you can afford. Be smart about it. If you have a teeny-tiny print run, buying a $4,000 print ad isn’t going to help you increase sales because no one will be able to find your book. People need to have 4, 5, 6 impressions of something before they really consider buying it (which is why publishers love prolific authors because the NAME becomes the IMPRESSION.) They need to see the book on the shelf, see it in cyberspace, see their friends talking about it. Your efforts may be ONE impression, but if your efforts are the ONLY impression, the reader isn’t going to be fooled into thinking there is a bunch of reader enthusiasm for the book.

What I’m trying to say … don’t be scared you’re not doing enough. Chances are, you’re doing MORE than enough. And, in fact, you may be doing too much. Is self-promotion and social media interfering with your writing time, exceeding your advance, or making you miserable to the point that you hate writing? If the answer is yes, you need to step back and focus on the one thing, the only GUARANTEED thing you can control: the quality of your story.

It’s a scary time in publishing for everyone — but readers are still reading, and they want great books to read. Go write them.

115 comments on “Money Can’t Buy Love”

Such good points, Allison. I heard many, many authors discussing this at RWA. As a book lover, I don’t relish the idea of authors spending so much time on social media that the quality of their work suffers.

You nailed it when you said the one thing authors have most control over is writing an excellent book.

At a published author conference, a panel of editors was asked, “If your author said they could write three books a year and spend no time on social media, or they could write two books a year and also do social media/self-promote, what would you want your authors to do?” Four editors (all major houses) said, “Three books a year.” One editor, who shall remain nameless, said, “Three books a year and self-promote online.”

The truth is, we ALL work hard whether we’re writing one, two, three or more books a year. The more we add to the plate, the more something else suffers — our families, the quality of our writing, or what we’re saying online. If we’re tired and crabby, something we toss off in 140 characters or less could really screw us, but if the only time we have to participate in publisher-mandated social media is between 2 and 3 am, then that’s a great risk.

You have nailed what all authors fear. That we are doing more than enough and it will never be enough. Best blog I’ve read in a long time. Next book is coming out next week and I have to stop stressing over the launch and get back to writing the next one.

I agree with everything you say–with a couple of exceptions. *s* FB and Twitter et all do not sell books. But they can, indeed, create “buzz” and you don’t need a trillion followers/friends. You only need a handful of the RIGHT followers/friends. Finding ’em is the key…and there are ways to then leverage those fab-followers who end up doing your word-of-mouth selling for you. The problem I see is that once an author figures out how to make these platforms work, the “next big Google+” fad emerges and distracts. Anyway, the best way to sell more books is right great ones–that always comes first, of course. (Terrific seeing you and Toni at Thrillerfest!)

I totally agree about the buzz, Amy — social media CAN be hugely effective in generating the word of mouth that people need to be successful. BUT the author herself isn’t the one behind it — it’s the author providing content that gets other people excited that then spreads. It’s a balance, for sure, but there are many, many, MANY successful authors who have little to no online presence.

BTW, You’re hugely effective because you provide value-added information to your fans (For those who don’t know Amy she’s a certified animal behavorist who has something like 23 non-fiction books out about raising and caring for pets) — You provide information that people want, and if they are getting what they want and know that you have more out there that they can buy, they’ll buy it. It’s like giving free samples at Costco. If you like what you’re getting, you’ll go buy more of it.

Good point–but see, I think ALL authors can offer that value added to fans/friends/followers. It doesn’t take a lot. I’m already writing about pets on other venues, so providing links there or sharing other folk’s great link/content takes no time. To me that’s a huge advantage of social networking–I can share a single blog posting with multiple platforms and read that many more pet lovers. And get immediate feedback on what my readers like/want. This week I received a FB post within minutes of my biweekly TV appearance.

It’s no single thing, no magic wand. Yes, social media takes time–but most of us can’t afford to hire a publicist to fill the holes left by the publisher’s efforts (and publishers just can’t do it all, as good as their efforts might be!). I’ve learned to streamline and do what I can do–which ain’t a helluva lot but is better than nothing. *s* For me, it’s become part of the job as a fulltime writer/author. It’s a business, and that’s the least glamorous, fun stuff. Sort of like cello scales and sore fingers practicing–but necessary to make the music sing (or the book get writ).

Wonderful post, Allison. Thank you so much. I’ve felt overwhelmed for some time by too much promotion coming my way through email, blogs, and such. It’s just too much and all of it starts to run together after a while. I’ve also felt for too long that I’m not doing enough (it’s difficult to promote when I’m not yet published and I hit a boiling point about a year ago where I no longer want to blog or read about the “journey to publication”). I’ve scaled down self-promotion to simply keeping my name out there by running my local chapter’s published contest. My pen name goes out to avid readers, librarians, and book sellers, and I’m leaving it at that for now.

Thank you again. I’ve read many blogs lately by authors describing that pressure to promote. Yes, we need to do it, especially during a new release. But I feel authors are now promoting too much. I agree that it’s word-of-mouth that often distinguishes one author from another, at least to readers, and that’s often due to timing and luck.

I’m going to get back to writing. At least that’s something I can control. 🙂

Callie, you mention something else that I’ve seen in the last couple years–unpublished authors self-promoting. There’s no need to self-promote if you don’t have a book coming out/out. If you like blogging and have a good blog and it doesn’t take away from your writing time, great. But promoting yourself when you’re selling books? I don’t get that. I didn’t even have a website until I had a book cover to put up there.

And then there is a new publisher out there who looks at websites of new/unpublished authors and at how many followers those blogs have, looking for their “platforms.” I personally am feeling the pressure to blog. I HATE IT! I can never find anything to write about. I work full time and just finding time to write is sometimes difficult, let alone blog. I do Facebook and I have my author page linked with Twitter, so whatever I post goes to Twitter.

Fantastic information, Allison. And you’ve eased my mind a little. I know self-promotion is important, but it shouldn’t overwhelm that which we are trying to promote—our great books.

Wow. Yes. This! If an author with a big publisher feels this pressure, imagine what those with smaller presses are subjected to.

I set some goals this RWA and each day, I work toward meeting them. Some, like selling my books, create a lot of stress, even though I need to step back. The current project, or the next, need my focus. As you said, there’s only so much I can do. I can get my name out there. I can create a book people want to read, and I can try to let them know about it. But until someone else, someone whose opinion they trust says, “I loved this book! You need to read it!” I probably won’t sell.

Hand-selling and word-of-mouth is amazing. A B&N employee decided to put my first book on the Nooks he was demonstrating. My sales have soared–which is relative to me being a small press author with a bigger digital presence than brick and mortar. To a named author with a big publisher, my sales are piddling, but I might…JUST might earn out my royalty to move to PAN by next year. Provided my friend doesn’t lose his job in this economy!

But that just illustrates your point, Allison. Word of mouth. It’s the best thing in the world for an author and her/his books. Great post!

I want to be there, too! I’d love to have a new contract (Secret Agent Lady is working on that!) but I have to admit, it would be rather psychologically fulfilling to have done it with a small press book. I’m over half way. 😀

Yay, Allison! I always think about that day, sitting in my office? When you said–just write the BEST book you can, and then another one and another one. I can’t tell you how much difference that’s made in my life..

The other downside of constant media/promotion? Readers/fans etc get tired of authors constantly pimping themselves all over the freakin’ place. Sending out multiple newsletters in a month, pimping their new releases, future releases, past releases. Somehow, someway the tweets and posts and updates all roll back around to the books. People who wanted periodic updates will stop following you, stop checking your blog/facebook etc because they’re annoyed with the constant PROMOTION PROMOTION PROMOTION.

So much of this stuff is time wasted on a captive audience. But finding a new audience is the real kicker — and the real killer.

Also, and this is just my opinion, I love being accessible to my readers, but in the big cyber world, there is such a thing as too much personal information. It’s a problem when readers/reviewers/critics follow an author on twitter or facebook or even blogs, and then dissect every tweet, every post, and attribute the author’s personal opinion as a reason NOT to buy their books or read them.

I can’t control smartass/mean/clueless/vindictive cyber trolls when it comes to comments about my work, and sometimes even assumptions about me, but I can control my response, which is not to respond to them, because inciting a flame war is the only thing they care about. I have other things to worry about. Deadlines.

I can’t control sales per se, but I can cut the extra crap out of my life that has nothing to do with writing and focus on what’s important…the writing.

Wow, Lori! Great addition to my post, thank you. And it’s another great topic we may need to discuss here sometime.

When I’m tempted to respond to something that may get me in trouble, I’ll ask myself, “What would Nora do?” (Nora Roberts.) She’s one of the classiest people I have ever met and sometimes, responding (professionally) is warranted, and sometimes ignoring it is warranted. And sometimes I still get in trouble :/

Great post, Allison! Such great advice in here. As a yet to be published author, it’s kind of scary reading this though.

As a reader, I love interacting with my fave authors on FB, Twitter, blogs, etc. When they disappear for a while, I know a) they are busy writing or b) RL got in the way. I completely understand that. From what I can see, authors are doing so much to reach the readers, but as you stated “WORD OF MOUTH” is the best promotion out there. I know that if I love and author and their books, I pimp them wherever I am…FB, Twitter, word of mouth, gifting books, etc. Readers do their part in helping with the promo too. I just hope the industry doesn’t neglect to think about the fact that authors need to be writing too; not just promoting their books.

THANK YOU for a reader’s perspective, Paula! And I do think that most readers completely understand that authors have a demanding job (like many of our readers) and family and health they need to address. I like chatting on facebook; I tolerate Twitter (but it can be a time suck because I also follow some news channels and tend to click through on those too much …) and I like blogging bi-weekly because it’s what I can handle. Daily? No way.

I think advising authors to take some time for reflection on how much and why they use social media, and the impact that is–possibly–having on their craft, is really smart. Decisions regarding level of self-promo should not be made based on a (false) sense of urgency or desperation.

This blog post, along with the write-up of the John Mayer Q&A, has crystallized something that was brewing in the back of my mind for a few months now.

I’m not an author, but in addition to biology, I studied marketing at university… and anyone with any marketing savvy will tell you that word of mouth is often the single most effective marketing tool for a product launch. While a well-placed advert may draw one’s attention to a product, consumers ultimately distrust info/promotion originating from the source the product and put more stock in the opinions of other consumers they trust (friends, family, an online community, etc.). A satisfied consumer will rave about the product/book/whatever to all his/her friends for whom the product is relevant, and a dissatisfied one will prove more harmful to sales for the same reason that zero advertising & promotion would. In this digital age when kids are born with a laptop in one hand, an iPhone in the other, and a Twitter/Facebook page, the Internet & social media provide another (sometimes successful) conduit for WoM.

Whoa, I’ll get off my marketing horse 🙂 It’s so true that a (quality) front list will sell the (quality) backlist. I can’t count the number of authors I’ve discovered & loved via later books whose entire backlist I’ve immediately devoured. With a few exceptions, each of those authors is now an auto-buy, and I bring them up whenever friends with similar literary tastes are looking for recommendations– as long as they are still crafting engaging stories rather than resting on their laurels.

P.S. Can it be the end of November already? Actually, first it should be the end of August, then it can be November 🙂

Thanks for your perspective Cris! And I think if something goes viral online that it is truly a gift from the heavens. It’s not something an author can do herself, however, because no one wants to hear me talk about my books 24/7.

I do self-promote when I have a book out, but only at the places where people opt-in … i.e. following me on twitter or facebook or signing up for my newsletter. I would love for them to then promote the fact that they love my books, but I can’t do it for them. So I try to post something worth retweeting and hope my fans will spread the word.

With my second book getting ready to come out, digitally, I’m feeling the pressure of self-promoting….and I’m so not the “look at me” kinda person. So….how would a new-ish author, who’s only published digitally, go about getting the word out and how do you ask people to push your books??

I think digital-only publication has its own unique issues, and this blog is primarily aimed at traditional publishing. HOWEVER everything I’ve heard about digital publishing is that the more books out, the better the author does, and that truth seems to spread across all genres.

I could have added all the annoying things people do to promote their books — chief among them signing me up for a newsletter I did not opt-in to–but that would have made this too long 🙂

In digital, I think a great cover image is essential, followed by great copy, followed by a great teaser (I think the first three pages is crucial for all books, but maybe even more so for digital), followed by a great website with longer excerpts (downloadable to their favorite e-reader) and free short stories. MAYBE social media is more important since digital readers tend to spend more time online than non-digital, but it certainly can’t replace the things I mentioned above.

Also, reviews are just as important in digital-only publication. Maybe more so because there are less places where a reader can encounter your book.

Allison, I’m published by two small e-first publishers, and my numbers are small enough that it was noticeable when I got back to doing social media promo after a hiatus due to all manner of stuff–including studying the craft of writing. The last few months I’ve been working at it, and I’ve seen a definite increase in sales. Maybe it’s different depending on the path to publication you find yourself on. Crazy world, publishing!

BTW, we had blog issues last night, and I had added a paragraph that is no longer here … and I just realized it.

I wanted to comment that the perception among the authors at Thrillerfest was far, far different than the female authors at RWA. I don’t know if this was 1) gender related or 2) genre related, but male authors don’t feel the same pressure from their publishers as we do — and I don’t know if that’s because we’re writing romance or because we’re women or because we’re predominately published in mass market. I think it’s a combination of the first two — I think because we’re women and tend to be more social by nature, we latched onto social media more readily than men, thereby making it more “expected” and I also think that publishers in seeing that, now expect it of us as a baseline, as opposed to something that is value-added. Maybe I’m wrong, so if there are any male authors here in traditional publishing who care to comment, please share!

Terrific post, A. My publisher likes me to be active in the industry and with fans, but has no specific requirement that it be social media vs. something else. I use social media to post stuff, write the occasional thought, and keep up with readers and friends (often the same, yay!) but I have no pressure, external or from me, to Tweet and FB till the cows come home. My pub thinks my level of public stuff is fine, and believes, as I and you do, that a great book, cover, blurbs and smart publisher promotion will sell the book. My FBs and Tweets by themselves will not.

Also, authors need to write interesting stuff for social media, not just pimp themselves endlessly about upcoming releases. Readers want to know about YOU, what you think, what you write, what you dream. In other words, they want to see your personality come out, not just your marketing info. Be your fun, curious self on FB and Twit, and people will go out of their way to read you–and maybe buy your books, too.

From my daughter Kelly who verbally had a GREAT response to my blog from the YA perspective and I told her to comment, but she deleted it. She posted on her facebook page:

My mom literally forces me to comment on her blogs…quote: “If you don’t comment in 10 minutes I’m writing a blog post on your opinion!” My opinions are shy and decaffeinated at the moment, you’ll have to wait.

Wow, it is funny you wrote this blog. I have bought every one of your books BECAUSE I saw you on Twitter and felt like I knew you. I also have told others and compelled them to buy your books. Why? Because I know you and like you…and still do :D. And I happen to dig your books too which is an added bonus.

Social media is the new digital village marketplace. If people are talking about you and your books on Twitter and FB, no paid ad can do better than that.

I think the problem is that most social media “experts” aren’t writers, so they treat social media like traditional marketing. That’s why it takes so many “followers” to drive any sales. The writer is no better than a spammer. Traditional marketing has NEVER sold books…ever. The only thing that has ever sold books is good book and word of mouth. Period.

Writers are unique. What works for Ed’s Car Wash doesn’t work for us. But then the social media “experts” try to overlay an author’s career onto traditional marketing…which has NEVER worked! This is part of why I started writing about social media for writers. We are different. We have to have time to write great books FIRST! We have to be masters of cultivating that precious word of mouth. How do we do this? We connect via relationships. People buy from us because they know us and LIKE us.

Social media needs to be used to cultivate relationships so that our marketing becomes more like a barn-raising. Everyone in our network mobilizes and does a little for a BIG impact.

Sure you only have 3,000 followers, but I would happily blog for your new book because I know you. I have almost 4000 followers and I get almost 30,000 hits a month on my blog. By being my friend, you just multiplied your efforts exponentially. Then because I like you, I ask some of my other pals to tweet and blog for you. And THEY have thousands of followers. See how this is working smarter not harder?

We don’t have to do this alone. It is all about recruiting a team. We all help each other.

One writer trying to be relevant on 5 different platforms and mass mailing potential readers a nice form-letter is not only grossly ineffective, but it leaves no time to write other books. That and it is a good way to end up on the roof with a shotgun and a pound of chocolate.

Social media, when applied properly, CAN drive sales, and I have a writing team in the UK to prove it. They went from selling almost no books to selling 100,000 books in less than five months. They did this not by spamming people on every platform. Rather, they took my advice and approached social media with the idea of recruiting a loyal team. They aren’t the only ones who have had the same results.

I think a lot of the social media “experts” are enough to make most writers crazy. It isn’t that they aren’t nice people trying to help, it’s that they don’t understand all the responsibilities a writer already has. The good news is this. We do not have to choose! We can write great books AND have a social platform that drives sales….and that does so with a time commitment of less than a half hour a day.

Sorry if this sounds like a sales pitch, but I hate seeing writers get discouraged. We have a WONDERFUl tool. For the first time in history we CAN affect word of mouth. Historically we could only write good books—and we had a 93% failure rate to show for it (per BEA statistics). Finally we have more control than ever. This is a fantastic time to be a writer. You just have to listen to the right people ;).

Kristen, thank you so much for stopping by! And I think we agree more than we disagree.

Two points: I wholly agree that social media can generate the crucial word of mouth in the digital age–absolutely. In fact, it’s FASTER than the old-fashioned word of mouth which goes from colleague to colleague over the watercooler, then a mom gives her daughter a book she liked, then a friend says have you read so-and-so … it takes months then the book might hit big … which is why there are review copies sent out. In cyberspace, that “watercooler” recommendation is spread instantly and it generates more interest faster. I TOTALLY agree.

However, there is a huge pressure on authors to get into social media when that author may not be good at it, or it takes away too much of their writing time. I don’t think social media IN AND OF ITSELF sells books. (It CAN, but there needs to first be a good book to talk about!) If the book doesn’t have all the other elements (distribution, if in print, and a great package–cover, copy, teaser, quote, etc–) then people may not even notice it in the first place.

I really do appreciate your support and your friendship (and it was great to finally meet you in person!!) and I love that you love my books 🙂 … and I do believe you bought one because you saw it online or because I said something on Twitter … but I don’t think you would have bought the other books if you didn’t like the first one, right?

I have a lot of non-readers who recommend me because they know people who would like my books. (I get a lot of email from RWA members, for example, that start with, “Your books are too scary for me, but I bought XYZ for my husband and he loved it.) I love those people 🙂 … so it’s absolutely true that when we are online, authors should be kind and professional and REAL.

But I still maintain that the more time online means less time writing. You, dear Kristen, are far more disciplined than I am. 🙂 (And I will definitely take you up on your blog offer in November!)

Oh … some people may think that I’m being a hypocrite because I am on twitter and facebook and have this blog. But I’ve been doing it because I enjoy it, not because anyone told me to. And when I need to write, I go off-line because I have to write. If an author is giving herself ulcers over what to tweet, she’s doing a disservice to herself and to her readers. Truly, in traditional publishing, it’s a partnership–your publisher needs to do their job, and you do yours, which is first and foremost to write a great book. Then another 🙂

Well, I always say I am a writer first. Also, my social media books are different in that I did not focus on gadgetry. I focused on people. What the heck do we SAY when we got on Twitter? A lot of writers are breaking out in hives for no reason. I think writers need to know that they don’t have to choose.

Actually, I bought all of your books at one time…because I liked you. Social media makes people feel like friends and we dig supporting our friends. The fact that I liked the books was secondary. I liked YOU.

I don’t think anyone should be forced to do anything. But, in fairness, nothing great was ever accomplished in the comfort zone. We get better and more efficient because we practice, we watch others, we get help. I think most writers would do fine with how I teach social media. But I am not trying to make writers into social media experts. I am here to teach writers how to build authentic, reliable word of mouth…and yet still have time to write books.

And yes, the book is paramount. No marketing campaign can help a crappy book. But I do have to say that the writing team in the UK that sold 100,000 books…that was the same exact book that sat unnoticed on Amazon at #1,234,555 (kidding, but you get the idea). The book didn’t change. The writing didn’t change. The only thing that changed was the writers’ approach to social media. In 5 weeks they hit #1. How did they do this? They followed my WANA methods…which left them time to write another book. Would the book have hit #1 if it wasn’t good? Nope. But would it have hit #1 if the writers hadn’t generated word of mouth on social media? Probably not. It likely would have remained unnoticed to die a quiet death.

The thing is if we are willing to embrace doing something different, we lose nothing but a half hour a day. What can we stand to gain?

Nah. We are paying attention :D. That was most of the joy of getting to go to LA. I was so THRILLED to get to meet YOU. A lot of writers underestimate how much others are paying attention :).

Happy to help you any time. And I agree. I have been to conferences where they brought in social media firms…and it was enough to make me want to OD on truffles, LOL. So I feel your pain and I am looking forward to changing your mind about social media. *Squeeee!!!*

Over here in the UK we’ve been discussing exactly what this blog post is saying, and I was delighted to see Kristen’s statement that Twitter and FB are word of mouth. I just don’t think I’m very good at it! Ladies, you’ve just picked up another follower. Great post, and great comments.

AS a reader who reads pretty much daily unless something crazy happens i do have bought books based on what I’ve read or seen on twitter more than Facebook. I’ve gotten away from Facebook because of all the constant changes etc but about 3 months ago tried out twitter. I have a blog too and well did i mention i read alot and boy do i like to talk about what I’m reading what I’ve read and tell others what they should read. lol You should see me at my libraries used book sale when people are looking and i start handing strangers books and telling them they should read this one.(fyi i don’t work there) Not everyone is like me though of course.
I do think you can overdue self promotion. If you make me jump through twelve hoops just to get a chance at winning your book, guess what I’m not interested in all that jumping and now I’m aggravated and i don’t even want to look at your book anymore. If you good at blogging about your won book do it cause I’m interested but if your not don’t bother because it will show. I guess what I’m saying in my rambling way if find out what works for you and do that. Look around at what others are doing for ideas and try different stuff out to you find the right combination. I will say this though Roxanne St Claire blogs somewhere I’m reading it and interested. I love her work but moreover even her writing on this blog or elsewhere is entertaining. On the other hand Julie Garwood never does much by way of self promoting but she is a must buy for me every time same as Rocki.

And you reiterated my main premise — you talk about books you love because you read them. So it really all comes down to the book itself. A mediocre book that is read and self-promoted everywhere might get an initial bump, but the proof of success will always be the next book.

If I really love a book, I’ll tell everyone, their brother, their mail man and his sister about it, whether the author Facebooks, Twitters, Blogs or whatevers. When I was five years old, at show and tell in kindergarten, I remember telling my classmates about my favorite book. Back then, I didn’t social network with any authors, and I still feel the same way. It’s all about the books. I do have to say that Social Media, especially blogging, has helped me, a girl from Brazil, find new names in my favorite genres, like some authors (Thank you, Allison) have recommended me other authors themselves. That’s the biggest influence it has had on my reading, because geographically, it was a challenge for me to find names before 🙂

Still, the illusion of a friendship with a stranger over the internet, though appealing at times, doesn’t sell more books to me than the non existence of it. Because that’s what social networking with authors is — most of the time anyway,sometimes you may end up really befriending an author! — though I’m nosy and I like to know what people are up to, I’d rather have the authors writing good books 🙂

And we authors love readers like you Barbie! When you love something, you tell the world (literally!) … and LOVE ME TO DEATH was just sold to Brazil. Don’t know when it’s coming out, but if it does well, they’ll buy the other Lucy books (crossing fingers!)

I read a lot of ARCs, not as many as I would like. I learned early on only to give a quote to books I have read. Too many readers have emailed me that they picked up a book because I recommended it. I have to know what the book is about and find something I love about it in order to offer a cover quote. Otherwise, I may be called on the carpet for it and then my word won’t mean as much if my readers get upset with the books I’m endorsing. So if there’s a quote from me on a book, that means I really did read it and I really did like it.

You know what’s funny, Allison? I know that sometimes, the only reason authors are very nice to me are because I’m “good marketing”. Believe me, I can tell when someone is “using” me for promotion. It’s ridiculous, because I don’t care who’s nice to me. If an author’s the nicest person, of if they’re the biggest bitch, if I love the book, I’ll “promote” it to people I know the same way.

On the other hand, it’s always nice when I know people like to talk to me for me, not because of my power of persuasion and my big “OMG, I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH.” 🙂

With my first book, a mystery, coming out Oct. 1 from a small press and my second book, a vampire romance, now out in ebook format, I understand and agree with you, Allison. The problem is that there’s no marketing budget anywhere. I’m leaning on friends and acquaintances to start the buzz, selling (or downloading) one book at a time. I’d much rather be writing three books a year like my acquaintance, Brenda Novak (and I don’t know how she does it, she’s phenomenal), but I’m spending way too much time on social media. I’m looking forward to the time when my day job will be writing.

Urgh! My message didn’t go through because the site went down for a minute.

Okay, my thoughts … you are frustrated and spending so much time online that you’re not writing. Limit your online time, focus it on what you like to do, and write another book in one of the two genres you have. Then go on a blog tour (I think they have great potential.) There may be no marketing money, but your publishers (digital and print) SHOULD send out review copies to reviewers and bloggers who read that genre BEFORE the book is on sale. Give them something to promote on social media. Because you can’t do it in a vacuum, and the amount of time YOU spend is not going to make a difference if you don’t have the time to write another good book.

As a reader, I’m selfish – I want you to write and spend time on social networking, but I guess you do need a life :-).

One point, I think social networking can be a great help in getting your first book published. Granted, you have to have a book good enough to be published, but as everyone knows that is just the entry ticket in the publishing game. My daughter, Miriam, is heavily vested in social networking. She has a blog with a growing list of followers, including other YA writers, she is active in the YA online community, she FB’s and Tweets. It is through Twitter she found her agent. She learned what the agent liked and didn’t like, she gleaned information to personalize her query letter and knew her book was right on target for the agent.

Yes, I know that social networking can be a huge disaster for some aspiring authors. They don’t know or don’t follow the rules and end up offending everyone. But if you know the rules and use them, then social networking can be a very helpful tool in making the magic happen.

Oh and you can look for THE HOUSE OF A THOUSAND DOLLS by Miriam Forster from HaprerTeen in about a year (Sorry for the BDP, but Allison, I think your mother would understand 🙂 )

What Kristen Lamb above advocates makes sense, and works. The problem is, that’s not what most publishers are advocating, nor is it what they grasp about social media–and I base this strictly on what’s been said publicly by various publishers at conferences and so forth.

Statistically, people have to see something several times before they remember it / remember to buy it. [The advantage to online reminders is the link right there that they can click through.] However, there are studies out the wazoo out there that people have to see something anywhere from 3 to 21 times (depending on the study you read) before they will remember to buy the item. Or, rather, before it solidifies from “recognition of” into “decision to do.”

This is basic marketing — click-through rates for major online marketing campaigns have shown, over and over, that a campaign is going to be lucky to get .01% to .04% click-through rate on a link online. That means, at most, 4 people out of every 100 will click that link. Out of the ones who click the link, about .01 to .04% will buy the item. So if 10,000 people saw a link [and let’s just pretend here that they saw it enough times for it to register as an action of something they wanted to do], about 100 to 400 might click it. And let’s go to the high side of that number and say 400 clicked it. Of that 400 who did, about 16 might buy it. So, using the best percentages, for every 10,000 people who see a link multiple times, you might, if you’re lucky, sell 16 books.

That’s a straight campaign, straight marketing type of deal. It’s not quite the same thing as someone enthusiastically raving over a product — that’s the magic, the hope — but even so, the statistics for follow-through with that are, at best measurements, about 8 percent, versus 4, from the discussions I’ve had with major advertising experts in the field today. [And I’ve got two friends in this business who do major national campaigns for the likes of Google, Microsoft, etc.]

The real trick/torture is to figure out how to balance your writing time with enough “social” time to, well, develop those relationships. The problem with relationships with a lot of strangers is, they have to be maintained, or you’re forgotten. That’s physically hard to do. Developing that, maintaining that, on the hopes that you can build a team is really the only way that social media can work for a writer, and it’s not about just showing up and tweeting or retweeting, but being active and, well, friendly. With a host of strangers. And trying to do that at different times of the day, not at the same set time, so that you interact with a bigger variety of people. *And* hope that enough people are seeing your tweets or your posts to grow that budding relationship.

That’s the part that I believe publishers don’t really get — how much time really ought to go into that sort of media to have any remote hope to make it work.

I do believe in street teams, like Kristen’s talking about. I’ve been lucky to have fans and friends do the same sort of word-of-mouth for me, and I’ve done it for others. But even so, even allllll of this, translates into a few hundred books, at best, unless it suddenly becomes a sensation.

So just to make it clear, I’m not saying that being on Twitter or FB or blogging won’t work. But I am saying that marketing on there only won’t work, and doing everything else? Takes a tremendous amount of time and commitment. And what’s sad, what’s overlooked, is that there are a number of other ways to create your own street teams that don’t mean living 24/7 online. There are other ways to simply be — and there’s nothing, not Twitter, not FB, not the new Google+ that will be the magic answer. I think as long as publishers recognize this, and don’t expect that social media (and social media alone) will do the trick of getting the word out, that it’s only a very small part of what needs to be an overall campaign? Then it can all be kept in perspective.

The whole point of this blog (which may have been misconstrued) was that the pressure that is placed on authors to promote their books on-line isn’t what sells books. READERS who love the books spread word of mouth — be it literally (face-to-face) or online (social media.)

Toni’s excellent point that social media is one component and should never be the only component in a publisher’s strategy.

If there’s one thing I hate more than people who subscribe me to newsletters I didn’t opt-in for, are people who pop up on cyberspace ONLY to promote their newest release.

I’ve been on music street teams a number of times, but haven’t seen too many actual street teams setup on FB for authors. Rob Browne has an excellent one for THE PARADISE PROPHECY. Other authors have set up book discussion group pages. These seem to generate a lot of motivation to share the books. I like Gail Carriger’s The Parasol Protectorate Books Group, of course one must mind one’s manners and never interrupt tea time in that group 🙂

Word of mouth does work. I tell everyone I talk to that my daughter is a best selling author and hand out bookmarks that list all her books. In book stores I make a point to talk to others wandering the aisles about Allison and what good books she writes. Nine times out of ten they buy one of her books after talking to me. This is what a proud mother does.

Love Me to Deathis currently in the mail finding its way to my home. I can’t wait to read it, it will be my first romantic suspense by you.

For me, facebook, twitter and even blogging has never persuaded me to buy a book. Rather, if there’s an author I like I will go find their facebook or author websites. Usually I find a book the old-fashioned way by happenstance so an attractive and interesting (and accurate) blurb is what goes into my decision of whether to read a book or not. Goodreads is where I go here to learn more about the author and find their backlist. I might check out the recommendations for books similar to ones I enjoyed.

Thanks so much for another reader’s perspective Na! I’m a big advocate of good websites. I love my website, but was just talking to my web guy last night about how to make it more user friendly (less scrolling, less flash, etc.) And hopefully we’ll have a just as gorgeous, easier to navigate sit before October!

Thank you so much, Allison! This was a fantastic post, and one I very much needed at the moment.

I have friends who have experienced the type of social media publisher pressure you mentioned in your post. What a nightmare.

I am a new author published with a small press. I’ve been very lucky. My publisher has been very supportive, encouraging, open, and best of all, realistic, in what they expect from my early efforts.

We all feel like we aren’t doing enough, but you hit the nail on the head. Word of mouth is the only marketing tool that truly works. There are no shortcuts to success. Certainly not any paths that can get you there in 140 characters or less.

I use social media for a fun and entretaining way to connect with readers and my fellow writers. Whenever I feel like I’m not doing enough, I need to remember to open the document containing my current WIP. It’s time better spent.

You said something I should have said! That social media should be FUN and ENTERTAINING. It’s work on one level, but we need to enjoy it on another. Any job we don’t love becomes a chore, and then we don’t do a good enough job. I love getting reader mail, I respond to all (if I haven’t responded to someone within a month, it means I haven’t received it!) I love comments on my facebook page and questions …

I’d only add that most people have a *way* they prefer to get information. I’m not a big twitter or facebook person. I’m more of a bricks-and-mortar person – I want to go to a bookstore, see a really cool title and/or cover design and dive in right there. I know, I’m becoming a past tense. I’m not sure what I’ll do if bookstores become a history book “fun fact.” I guess I’ll have to break down and shop online.

I think that’s what I like best about my Nook. I would rather have a book in my hand any day of the week, because I tend to flip back and forth – not as easy on a Nook – but I like that the Nook shopping feels like being in a store.

Maybe I’ll join a cyber book club – are they even real? Probably are. 🙂

Ah, Shannon, I so relate — I like to flip back and forth, too. I will miss that, I think.

I wonder, though — is it possible to search for a specific word with an e-reader (whichever one)? Because often I’m looking for a particular passage to re-read, and if I could find it using a word search, it might work as an alternative to flipping… or might not. Sigh.

I’ve only used the Nook. It has a good search option. Just touch whatever page you are currently on and a prompt comes up at the bottom. Pick “search” and a keyboard pops up. Write in the word and press “search” on the keyboard and it gives you the chapters and pages where you can find that word.

Hi Shannon … I have an iPad and I’ve played with the Nook and Kindle. I’d probably get a Nook if I broke down and bought an eReader. However, I like paper. I can’t help it. 🙂

I also think that while some kids will read on eReaders, I don’t think they are all going to convert like some people believe. I can only speak to my children (five) but the only one I see reading electronically is my 10 year old son. (He’s all about gadgets). I offered my teenagers the eReader of their choice, but neither wanted one. Most of their school books are online and they spend so much time at the computer they dread it. While they love their cell phones, neither want to read on it. I think there will be a balance, and that authors (and publishers) will do best when their books are offered in a variety of ways — print, electronic, audio, large print, etc. I think that EVENTUALLY it’ll be (roughly) a 50/50 split of preference, and that the young people won’t be the tipping point, but the older generation (maybe 50+) will move to electronic because of the font size issue.

I tried to read one of the signed books you sent, but now the font seems too small and the frustration of having to keep the book open drove me crazy. So I have it as an ebook. I think you’re right that us old folks, as opposed to you young’ns, will start going to the eReaders for the font size. I can read so much faster on my Kindle, which means I can read more books, so I buy more books. The only problem with my Kindle is instant gratification leads to compulsive buying.

BTW I love the sync feature so I can read on my iPhone when I am on a service call waiting for the computer to do what I told it to.

I’m cracking up at this because I started reading a “regular” book and have caught myself–three times–looking at the bottom of the page for the “enlarge font” icon. argh. I love that I can enlarge the font.

You are so right. Word of mouth is a strong way to get someone to try a book that you’ve enjoyed, talk to one friend who talks to another friend and so on… We have to tell the ones we know about books we’ve heard about, read, been recommended. Authors can’t do it alone and there are some really great authors out there who will never get recognized!
Keep blogging and talking books!!

Hi Diane: Thanks! I try to tell people of a new book I like especially if it’s a debut author, because debuts really need the added push (IMO.) I love MSW and the girls here and all our regular visitors (even the lurkers!)

I’ve been really working on doing social media right. I’m trying to find a balance of getting to know people and letting them know me and promoting just on a specific day and time. It seems to be helping my sanity and writing a book time. LOL 🙂

When I see an author whom I like, or a book that interests me, on a blog tour, I try to follow and post a comment. No matter how short, the comment is meant to assure them that they are not working in a vacuum. Naturally, it’s nice to get feedback but, even retired, I remember the days when there were not enough hours.
My friends and family suggest titles and swap reviews all the time–but just as likely from librarians etc. as authors. So I vote for writing, not selling, when there’s a time crunch.

Thanks Liz! I’ve done blog interviews where there’s like 2 or 3 comments and I think wow, no one likes me! Then the hostess will send me the stats for the day and there’s a couple hundred unique visitors. Makes me feel much better!

I absolutely hate going to a blog interview and see very few responses, even if it’s an author I’m not familiar with. I too respond to them, just so they know they’re not alone. Good to know I’m not the only one who does that.

My daughter Kelly wouldn’t post her thoughts, and I’ll probably get them wrong and them she’ll reply that I totally don’t understand a thing that she says … but I’ll try 🙂

She felt that the YA authors are very active on Twitter (for example) and that she enjoys following them and because YA readers tend to be on their phones (and twitter is VERY easy to use on phones) that it makes for easy communication.

Also, she’ll pay more attention to what her favorite authors are recommending, particularly with new authors … at least she did until she got burned. She feels that they all promote each other and it’s almost like a clique, but that some of them are recommending books by their friends that just don’t hold up to the praise. She mentioned a specific book she would never have looked twice at because it wasn’t something she’d be interested in, but it was recommended by a fave author so she looked–but after a couple pages put it back because it wasn’t her thing, nor all that good.

Now, she is hugely selective about which authors to listen to (i.e. which endorsements she’ll now look at.) Which makes her a bit more skeptical about what these people are saying on line.

SO what I take from that is while it’s great to support our friends, we need to not abuse our readers who value what we say. My endorsement isn’t going to mean anything if I give it to every book on the planet just because I know the person.

I will recommend books and authors I don’t read to individual readers if I know that author is much loved by people I trust. For example, I don’t read much historicals, but I gave my mom’s best friend Monica McCarty’s debut Scottish historical trilogy. She raved, devoured them, and I trust her opinion, so I can honestly recommend McCarty to others looking for good Scottish historical romance.

I hope that makes sense :/

And Kelly, please tell me I’m full of sh*t if I got your opinion wrong.

Allison, terrific post. We all fear that we’re not doing enough to promote. That’s why it is so important to do the social media that we like the best. That we, personally, connect to. And no more than 15-30 minutes a day (which is admittedly hard…it can be addictive). We have to write. We have to have a personal life. We need to read and connect to people. But isn’t it interesting that “social media” is the new mall? We don’t shop in stores; we shop online. We don’t talk on the phone; we chat online, sometimes face-to-face. We make “friends.” C’mon, really? But yes, friends. So it makes sense that we share our likes and concerns online, too. And this is the new word of mouth. But most important — what we write has to be the best we can do. Thanks for making that so clear.

Exactly. Write first, socialize second. And if social media can help create word of mouth because people like your books, great. But the book has to come first, and publishers need to do what THEY do best and let us do what WE do best, and not put on our shoulders the entire weight of the success (or failure) of a book they chose to buy, print, and sell.

I’m not a writer… I’m a teen and an avid YA reader. I probably read, on average, 20-25 books a month, with about an equal number being purchased, checked out of the library, and free books from online/ereader promotions and such.

I follow a lot of YA authors on Twitter, and sometimes check out their blogs. I also follow a lot of book review sites. I’m also at Goodreads, which is probably the place I get most of my reviews/recommendations from.

I think that having some kind of presence on these types of sites is useful. If your book isn’t up on Goodreads, I can’t very well review it or recommend it to anyone.

Authors self-promoting (pushing their books at you) is actually pretty annoying. Some authors on Twitter pretty much do nothing but scream BUY MY BOOK! MY BOOK IS AWESOME! That isn’t going to help anything. The authors I enjoy following often tweet links to interesting book-related sites that I might not have known about or they give some way of interacting, like a poll or quiz, that only takes a moment of my time.

Word of Mouth is what sells books, not anything you actually do on any of these sites, but the point is, the Internet is how readers (especially my age) get our word of mouth. I’m 99% more likely to get book recommendations from strangers that I only know online, than from anyone I know in real life. Most of the time when I get a book, it’s because of something I saw about it on a social site. Very often, I’ll read a book review somewhere that links to the author’s Twitter handle, website, or blog. If you don’t have any of those, then the book review is guaranteed to be the only thing I read, but if (not a guarantee, obviously) I follow the link, that’s going to be a SECOND time I’m reading about your book.

That’s why I’m really not sure how your book would get found and talked about if you don’t have at least something up on the most popular social sites. Just don’t do that screaming thing on Twitter. That’s just annoying.

Good points, Claire. Essentially — be nice, don’t overtly or overly self-promote, share information with others, and make sure your book is posted on GoodReads and other popular reader sites so that readers can find them in the first place.

Well-said! Social Media outlets are reproducing with the frequency of rabbits. Every “new one” is supposed to be better than the previous ones but when do I have the time to do all this? Sigh. Sometimes it feels like I’m chasing my tail. Heaven help if I ever catch it.

Hi Allison!
What a great post, and I love that you and Kristen had such an interesting discussion for us all to see. It’s nice to see two viewpoints come together. I’m blogging because of Kristen’s theories, and I’m actually enjoying it. As long as I stay disciplined and make sure I write first, then social media doesn’t take up too much time.

I’m curious, in your experience, how can a new author get word of mouth? As you said, how many great books sit on the shelves for various reasons and never sell? As an unpublished author, the whole prospect is very intimidating. At least if we’re involved in social media, we feel as though we’re doing something to brand ourselves.

Kristen is a smart cookie 🙂 I’m reading her social media book now. I’m not sold on it being THE solution, but I do think there is *some* value if, as Toni said, publishers don’t expect social media to take the place of their plans.

As far as a new author — I can’t speak to self-publishing because I haven’t done it, and I don’t know the ins and outs. And it would be different for an established author anyway.

For a debut author — The first thing is I would of course have a website (you need someplace to send people to for excerpts, information, etc.) Depending on the genre, I would come up with some ideas that might help me stand out from the others. But that is really dependent on the publisher as well. For example, if I were a debut romantic suspense author, I’d look at what was common on covers, and come up with cover concepts that were different–but still said romantic suspense. This would help me stand out among the established authors. If I look like everyone else, what makes me stand out? But I wouldn’t go too far off the reservation because you need to make sure people know the genre.

The most important thing for NEW authors is to get that book widely read because that will generate buzz and word of mouth. The Amazon Vine problem, LibraryThing’s Early Readers, GoodReads, BN — they all have programs to get ARCs in the hands of readers who will then review. How do all these books have 20, 30, 100 reviews even before the book is out? It’s through these programs.

You can of course use social media — but remember, it’s not for promo per se. It’s to essentially have conversations with people of like interests and expand your “friends” and talk about things you like (books, movies, gardening, whatever.) I’m lucky in that I also have some great fans who also follow me, and so when I have a new book out they’ll help spread the word.

I think your last line is what’s wrong with the entire way of thinking about social media: “we feel as though we’re doing something to brand ourselves.” Yes–you’re doing something, but is what you’re doing productive and smart? If you don’t sell well, is it because you didn’t do more tweeting or facebooking? I’d argue no. If you don’t sell well, it is never, or rarely, the failure of your social media involvement. But if you go into a lull that “Oh, I tweet every morning, I’ve done what I need to” then I don’t think that’s a smart business move. Anything you do should compliment your publishers program, and should be something you do naturally.

Debut authors have an added advantage over midlist authors — you’re new, you’re fresh, you can get a lot of reviews and articles and attention and followers simply BECAUSE you’re a debut author. Take advantage of that. IMO.

Allison
Thanks for the advice. I hadn’t heard of ARCs. That’s something I will have to look into. I’m sure that’s the benefit of having an agent, because they’re going to have a lot of ideas about how you can get your book out there.

Stupid question: what does ARC stand for?

I do have a website with the standard stuff, but most of my attention goes toward my blog. Does that make a difference?

They’re a copy of your book, but in a less-than-completely-finished form. Sometimes that means it’s basically identical to the final copy that will come out, but sometimes your book is actually still being edited and the ARC may have a lot of errors or differences from the final version.

I can’t thank you enough for your message here. It’s so easy to get caught up in the push for social media being mandatory for writers these days. It stresses me out and overwhelms me sometimes!
Your post came at a great time for me. Now I can sit down with my work and not have the pressure of “connecting” over my head as much as it has been!

I’ve gone back and forth, back and forth over this so often. I’ve been avoiding Twitter like the plague because I know what a potential time-suck it can be. I set up a website and a FB page and plan to do short weekly blog posts. I’m leaving it at that for now. Then, I’m bookmarking this wonderful post for its advice and comments. And I am definitely going to get my hands on Kristen’s book (there goes that word of mouth thing, huh?). Once I do sell a manuscript, I do want to know the most efficient way to use all the social media. If she’s got a way to make it work for me in about half an hour a day as she states above, then I’m all for it. But over the last month and a half, I’ve spent a good chunk of my time setting up the website and FB page and I can’t say it’s really doing anything for my career. I know it’s too soon to expect big results of course, but I also know that I could have spent that time writing and at this point, I think that is where my time will be best spent. Social media is not going anywhere. Besides, considering the speed at which technology changes these days, websites, FB, and Twitter may be old hat when it comes time to promote my book. Thanks for a great discussion!

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Bio:

Allison Brennan

Allison Brennan is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of nearly three dozen romantic thrillers and mysteries, including the Lucy Kincaid series and the Max Revere series. She lives in Northern California with her husband, five children, and assorted pets.